


i never told you that i work at hot topic for a living

by Asallia



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 2000s, F/F, First Meetings, Workplace, hot topic AU, sorry haters, this is a notice that ruby fucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asallia/pseuds/Asallia
Summary: Self-conscious and frustrated by a seemingly endless procession of failed attempts at flirting with the girls who walk into her store, Ruby finds herself whittling away the hours of a slow Monday shift at Hot Topic until a stranger comes in and shows her the power of self-confidence.
Relationships: Kurosawa Ruby/Ohara Mari
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	i never told you that i work at hot topic for a living

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexIsNotHere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsNotHere/gifts).



> Hi Alex c:
> 
> This was originally meant to be a Christmas gift, but then I didn't like what I had and restarted. And then I didn't like that either and restarted again. And then I just got really lazy. Anyways, now I have to make up an excuse to give this to you, so I'm calling today National "Hi Alex I Adore You And I'm Very Lucky To Be In Your Life" Day. Or HAIAYAIVLTBIYL Day for short. For the rest of y'all, you can celebrate by reading this hyper pandering fic!

Ruby never quite thrived at the jobs she got hired to.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort - anything but. She did her Rubesty every time, but there was always _something_ that her poor little heart couldn’t quite take. When she got hired at the aquarium, it was getting splashed by the dolphins. When she got hired at a restaurant, it was the aroma of all that spicy food, enough to send her into sneezing fits every single shift.

When she got hired at Hot Topic? It was the girls.

And really, was it her fault? They were the ones coming in wearing merch for her favorite bands and dressed punk, looking as calm and collected as they could be while shopping - Ruby stammering attempts at pickup lines under her breath all the while, only to suddenly forget them as soon as she was approached at the cash register. They’d give her a polite little smile like they couldn’t believe a girl like Ruby was working at a place like this, then they’d be on their way.

Once, just _once,_ Ruby wanted to be cool like them, to fit in. She even dyed her hair red and everything, incurring the wrath of both Dia and her parents in the process, but it wasn’t enough. No matter what, she still couldn’t hold her own against the onslaught of pretty girls who had better things to do than talk to someone like her.

The store was empty right now, and she was the only employee on shift. Her manager had wandered off to god knows where, probably chatting up some other store, and today was usually quiet enough that it only took one person to hold down the fort. The bright side was that less people meant less to rouse Ruby’s anxieties, but it also left her with little to do besides heave a sigh and read stolen issues of Kerrang under her desk.

One ticked away second by agonizing second until it was two, the afternoon whittled away in fits of tidying the shelves and checking out the few people who happened to stray into the store in the middle of a Monday. Bewildered parents and their excited kids, mostly. Ruby put a smile on for all of them and did her best to make sure that the parents didn’t inadvertently buy their kids anything they’d be too offended by, then returned to her post only to repeat the cycle.

Finally, _finally_ , something broke through the mire of disinterest.

She came in when the clock struck three, almost as if it were fate itself presenting Ruby with an escape, and she looked like a six shooter made in human form. Bombshell blonde hair cascaded down from her undercut to her shoulder, just teasing at the straps of the tank top she was wearing. Her arms were covered front to back in sleeves of tattoos, intricate patterns and designs so dense as to look like hieroglyphics to Ruby’s wide eyes.

Given the woman’s radiant confidence, it was probably a futile effort from the start for Ruby to act as though she wasn’t staring. This woman knew she was hot shit, and she knew everyone else did too.

Ruby wasn’t sure if the pang she felt at the sight was of attraction or admiration, but it was sure _something_.

As the woman drifted into the store, her eyes scanned the whole place like this was a well-practiced ritual. First the clothes, then the CDs, then the rest of the merchandise.

Finally, they settled on Ruby. A cheshire-like grin crossed the woman’s face, lips curling higher and higher until they couldn’t go any father.

“Well you’re a cute little thing, aren’t you my dear?”

Ruby’s cheeks burned red, but on the inside her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to be reduced to just another novelty decoration like so many of the ones that adorned the store’s walls, and yet she always lost that fight from the minute someone walked into the store.

“Can I help you with anything?” Ruby replied, wearing her best customer service smile as she projected her voice, attempting to suppress the bloom of her cheeks and the marathon-pace thumps of her heart.

“Oh, I’m just poking around,” the woman responded casually. “Had a bit of time to kill, you know?”

“This is a good place to kill it,” Ruby said with a faint giggle. Mari smiled.

“With you here? _Absolutely_ ,” she purred. Her arms found purchase on the faux-glass of the counter ash, and she leaned in closer.

“I love your hair,” the woman remarked, a hand lifting up to twirl one of the stray pigtails around a finger until it fell away.

Suddenly, the flush of Ruby’s cheeks was getting harder and harder to hide. She’d never had anyone give her attention like this before, yet alone with such inimitable glee.

“Th- thanks,” she stammered in reply. “My parents are still mad about it. My sister acts mad too, even if I don’t think she really is. But it makes me feel…”

“Punk?” the woman asked, a humored lit to the words.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Ruby replied sheepishly. “I’m not punk, I’m just Ruby.”

“Well, Ruby, I think you’re pretty punk. Rubies are red, are they not? Red is fiery, angry, rebellious. That’s a good look on you.”

Ruby’s eyes widened at the remark, and she realized that Mari had somehow gotten even _closer_ as she leaned over the counter, barely half a foot from Ruby’s face. In a panic, Ruby checked to make sure she didn’t have something on her cheek, but there wasn’t a crumb or anything of the sort.

“I’m Mari, by the way. Ohara.”

“Oh, uh, I’m Ruby- I mean, I already said that,” she stammered, a nervous laugh filling the blank space while her brain ran in endless circles. “Ruby Kurosawa. It’s nice to- to meet you.”

In lieu of a reply, Mari met Ruby with a sly smile. Finally she backed away from the counter, vision sweeping over the various aisles and stands and walls of t-shirts. An innocent whistle, a few stray steps toward the opening behind the counter.

“Say, Ruby, could you help me? I need the input of someone with _impeccable_ taste, and I get a feeling you’re the woman for the job.”

Ruby blinked in surprise.

“Oh! Yeah, sure, of course!”

Before she could second guess herself, she followed Mari, who began winding her way throughout the store with little purpose. Her fingers grazed various bits of merchandise as she went, attention wavering back and forth with little thought paid to a purpose. The sight filled Ruby with a strange sense of jealousy. Her anxiety gave her little opportunity to enjoy the journeys she took, not when her attention was already so single-mindedly trained on the destination.

She wanted to be like this woman, to be free. Maybe that was putting too much stock in the impulsive movements of a stranger she’d known for mere minutes, but Ruby had always been liable to put more than her fair share of trust in the power of serendipity; even if it happened to come in the form of a pretty girl with sleeve tattoos and lines of cartilage piercings.

Eventually, Mari slowed down to a halt, eyes fixated on the CD rack in the back of the store. Though Hot Topic was in theory a store that traded on alt music, it ironically held little in terms of an actual music selection. Still, that hadn’t stopped Mari from beginning to deftly flick through album after album, her movements not that far removed from the way someone might peruse a rack of vinyl records in a thrift shop.

“No, no, no…” Mari’s lips curled downward, her tongue sticking out ever so slightly. Ruby just stared, fidgeting with her lanyard and trying to make out the flurry of CDs until finally, Mari stopped and heaved a sigh. “Nope, nothing’s speaking to me. Thankfully I have you, though, my dear!”

Before Ruby even had time to let out a yelp, Mari had grabbed her by the hand and pulled her closer to the CD rack, her free hand waving toward it in a grandiose gesture.

“What can I do for you?” Ruby asked.

“I need a new album,” Mari explained in saccharine tones. “I’m going to see Warped Tour with a few friends next week, and I thought I’d throw a little bash after we get back at my place. Problem is, my music collection is getting a bit stale. I need something new, something _shiny_!”

“Sh- shiny?”

“Shiny,” Mari repeated emphatically, as if that in any way constituted an explanation. Ruby just steeled herself, and wracked her brain for all the new releases that had come in lately. They’d had a new Used record come out, some new New Found Glory… no, no, those didn’t seem _shiny_. The word’s intent was still lost on Ruby, but she knew she needed something worthy of Mari. Something cool, something with raw _bite_ and with beauty hidden underneath it all.

Quickly, Ruby began leafing through toward the M section, until at last she’d found exactly what she was looking for. She pulled out an album drenched in black and white and bloodstain reds, presenting it proudly to Mari.

“How about this?”

Mari scrutinized the cover for a moment before taking it from Ruby, turning it around in her hands over and over.

“My Chemical Romance, huh? Yoshiko mentioned their first album was good, but that only scared me off…” Mari said, more to herself than Ruby.

“Don’t worry, this new one is really good,” Ruby replied emphatically. She pointed to the tracklist on the back with a wide grin, printed out in grandiose serif lettering. “The last track is my favorite, it gets me a bit anxious with how fast it is but it’s so catchy! There’s this part where the music all cuts out except for his voice and this one guitar and it’s so sad, I always get kinda sad since it’s about him losing the girl that he loves, and…” Ruby’s voice trailed off. The smile she wore tugged down. “Sorry, I’m getting too excited. Dia told me people won’t like it when I do that.”

Mari scoffed in reply, taking the CD back from Ruby and lifting it up in the air triumphantly.

“Who cares what that big ol’ meanie Dia thinks, Ruby? I love hearing you get excited!”

“You do?” Ruby asked, a bloom on her cheeks. “I- I mean, Dia isn’t a meanie, she means well. I wouldn’t want to let her down…”

“That’s not very punk, don’t you think?” Mari replied. “Rules are meant to be broken. That’s the first rule of scene life, Ruby.”

“Doesn’t that mean I should break it?”

Mari paused, a blank look on her face.

“Huh. You’re right.” She smiled, radiant and dazzling. “You’re learning fast, Ruby.”

The praise caused Ruby to puff out her chest a bit, a confident look on her face. Nevermind that it was entirely fraudulent - the fact that it was there to begin with was enough to instill a real sense of pride in and of itself.

“I do my Rubesty.”

Mari laughed. “Oh, you’re precious.” She looked down at the CD, finger tracing each track in the tracklist. “‘I Never Told You What I Do For A Living,’ huh?” she asked, a sly smile on her face. “I’m sure you can relate. Do your parents know you work here?”

Ruby paled. Was she that easy to read?

“They, uh, think I’m at cram school. I have to change out of my usual clothes in the break room, usually. The manager said the clothes my family bought for me were too stuffy.”

Mari analyzed the outfit Ruby wore, frowning.

“And this was your idea of not stuffy?” She tutted. “Ruby, you can do better than all these ruffles. Not that they don’t look good on you,” she added with a cheshire smile, “but don’t you wanna look _cool_?”

Ruby thought to all the girls who treated her like a cute decoration, never _truly_ looking at her. Her resolve grew, steeling her.

“Yeah, I do.”

Mari hummed, palming the CD and looking around the store.

“Anyone gonna come in for a while?”

Ruby shook her head. “No, probably not. It’s always slow around now, the store had been empty for an hour before you came.”

“Good,” Mari replied. She reached over the back of the counter, setting the album down. “We’ll deal with that later. Right now we have _much_ more pressing matters to attend to!”

In a start she grabbed hold of Ruby’s hand once again and dragged her along, giving Ruby ample opportunity this time to savor how soft the skin of Mari’s hand felt against her own. It felt as though it sparked with the electricity of Mari’s enthusiasm, crossing from one hand to another and lending Ruby some of the joy Mari seemed to wear effortlessly like a second skin.

However, the store wasn't large, and after a few seconds Mari was rifling through its stock of clothes, muttering to herself all the while.

“No, no, too gauche, maybe, too goth…” She frowned as she spoke, then turned to Ruby. “What does that band wear when they play?”

“My Chemical Romance?” Ruby asked idly. She had never been able to see them live, not with how strict her curfew was, but… she’d watched a few of their videos before. She had to sneak down to the living room at night and watch MTV with the volume turned down until they just happened to play the alt rock videos, but the clandestine nature of the activity lent it much of its appeal.

“Hm,” Ruby hummed to herself. “In the video they wear like… red ties and black dress shirts. But isn’t that stuffier?”

Mari’s eyes lit up instantly, and she danced about the store in a flurry of activity, grabbing various garments and comparing them against each other. They were cheap, sure, but they more than did the trick for someone who wanted to look like they shopped at Hot Topic.

“Not if you have someone who knows what they’re doing!” Mari replied in a sing-song voice, practically shouting from across the store. Soon she returned to Ruby, handing over a huge stack of black clothes that Ruby hastily accepted. “And luckily for you, I know what I’m doing. Now go put these on, okay?”

Ruby looked down to the clothing, then back up to Mari, mouth slightly parted.

“Oh, uh, okay. Are you sure I’ll look good in these?”

“ _Pffft_ ,” Mari replied, the childish sound ringing out through the empty store. “You’d look good in anything, my dear. Now go!”

She gave Ruby a small shove, ushering her onward into the break room where Ruby hastily began shedding her clothing and replacing it with the outfit Mari had picked out for her. It came together piece by piece, pastel frills traded for no-nonsense black; first the skinny jeans, replacing her skirt. The jeans were black, pre-ripped in a few spots to give them a roughed-up look. It wasn’t as cool as taking a pair of scissors to them like Ruby had heard of people doing, but still she found no small amount of joy in putting them on. Next came a studded belt and a similar leather bracelet, which she snapped into place, then finally the top. She quickly realized it was exactly the one she’d described to Mari, from the music video - a black dress shirt and crimson tie, the two colors clashing in just the right way.

Despite her apprehensions that she could make something like it work, Ruby nonetheless shrugged on the dress shirt over her bare skin, doing the buttons one at a time until she’d reached the collar. Once it was buttoned up, she reached for the tie, only to realize that…

Well, she’d never had a reason to learn how to tie one before.

Ruby internally chastised herself. How was she going to seem cool to Mari if she couldn’t even do this one simple thing? She wanted more than anything else to finally make the impression that she’d dreamed of making on a pretty girl, to be noticeable instead of cute. After all, it seemed that “cute” always meant “forgettable” to the kinds of girls Ruby always pined for. She didn’t want to be forgettable, yet alone to someone as intoxicatingly memorable as Mari.

But still, she didn’t have much of a choice. After fidgeting with her clothes a bit to make sure they were all in place, she walked back out to the store, tie draped over her neck. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when she noticed Mari facing away from her, perusing the t-shirt wall. Ruby stared for a moment, drinking in the sight. Mari’s golden locks teased at her neck, and her legs looked alluring from this angle. It was like she radiated an aura of pure wonderment - suddenly, the concept of _shiny_ became crystal clear in Ruby’s mind.

“Hey, uh, Mari?”

Mari turned as soon as she registered Ruby’s voice, eyes lighting up and a beam painting itself across her visage as she raced to Ruby’s side.

“My dear, you look _wonderful_!” she shouted with glee. “Here, let me help you with that silly tie. It took me ages to figure out how to do one of these, don’t you worry your pretty little head.”

All it took was a few deft motions for it to be laced around Ruby’s neck, but that wasn’t enough. Mari hummed to herself, eyes narrowed.

“No, this isn’t right.” She undid the top two buttons and loosened the tie in a jerky movement, before releasing Ruby’s hair from the pigtails that pulled it to either side. It cascaded down Ruby’s neck, stopping just past her shoulders in a loose mess of red that complimented the disheveled look of her outfit. Finally, Mari stepped back. “There, _perfect_. Now take a look.”

In the mirror beside them, Ruby saw...

Well, she saw Ruby. She was still that same scared little girl, but Mari had provided her something dearly important - proof that she could be more than that, in time. The evidence was in the way she wore the shirt just barely tucked into the jeans, the way that the red locks of her hair joined the tie in its clash against the pitch black of the shirt. She felt the faintest twinges of confidence when she saw herself in them, a feeling that was so novel it hardly registered in her mind.

“Well?” Mari asked expectantly. Her arms found their perch on Ruby’s shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze. “What do you think?”

“I think that I look good,” Ruby replied. Her voice started with a waver, but quickly evened out the more she looked at herself. Yeah, she looked good.

“Of course you do! Those stuffy parents of yours can’t tell you what to do, not when you’re here. You gotta live your best life!”

Living her best life, huh? Ruby turned the words over in her mind, one time after another. She looked to Mari, who’d drifted in front of her.

One step, then two. Each carried Ruby forward, closer and closer. Mari’s mouth parted into an O, surprised etched into the faintest red of her cheeks. Ruby stepped even closer, pinning Mari in the thin strand of space between Ruby and the wall behind her. A hand reached out past Mari, bracing itself on the wall. Ruby had her chance, and she was going to take it.

“You, uh… mentioned that party. And going to Warped Tour. Do you have a date?”

The words came out of her mouth of their own accord, surprising even Ruby with their assuredness. It was as if she’d been possessed by the spirit of something she couldn’t quite understand, but she wasn’t about to let the moment pass unfettered.

“I don’t,” Mari replied plainly. She wore an expression on her face that was nigh-unreadable, but it wasn’t negative; that much Ruby could see plain as day.

“I thought maybe I could come along, get to know you a bit better. Help you break in that album. If you want, that is.”

“I’d really like that,” Mari replied, voice nearly a whisper. With each passing second she became more and more flustered, staring deep into the emerald of Ruby’s irises as through she were enthralled by the steady swinging of a pendulum.

Ruby smiled, backed away. She fished her phone out of her pocket, doing her best not to be phased by its bright pink plastic exterior, then handed it to Mari.

“Put your number in, I’ll go ring you up. And myself,” she added with a sheepish laugh.

“Oh hush,” Mari replied. “It’s all on me. It’s the least I can do.” She tapped away at the phone for a minute, then strolled over to the counter with Ruby and set it down. A sly smirk crossed her face. “How about this, I keep dressing you up and you keep catching me off guard. Deal?”

“Deal,” Ruby replied with a giggle. She scanned the items, using the scan gun to get her clothes before she ripped the tags off unceremoniously. Mari swiped something that looked suspiciously like a black card, then slid it back in her wallet.

“Good, I’m glad to hear it. Wednesday then, seven sharp? Text me your address, we’ll pick you up.”

Ruby paled, loosing the slightest bit of her earlier confidence. Right, Mari’s friends. She’d forgotten about them. Perhaps sensing Ruby’s anxiety, Mari laughed reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, they’ll adore you. Well… just not as much as me, anyways. See you then, my dear.”

A kiss blown in Ruby’s direction was Mari’s parting shot, hitting Ruby with all the force of a six shooter. All Ruby could do in turn was stare at the confident sway of Mari’s gait as she walked away, disappearing into the throngs of shoppers outside in the main atrium of the mall.

Idly, a hand reached up to brush at the collar of Ruby’s shirt. The shirt _Mari_ had bought her.

She wasn’t sure what the fuck she’d just done, or where any of that confidence had originated from, but there was one thing that was clear even to her: confidence was a good look, just as much as the punk outfits Mari had promised to introduce her to.

And it was one that she wanted to keep on wearing for Mari.


End file.
